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1 EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK WORKING PAPER SERIES WORKING PAPER NO 138 NEW VIEWS ON THE OPTIMUM CURRENCY AREA THEORY: WHAT IS EMU TELLING US? BY FRANCESCO PAOLO MONGELLI April 2002

2 EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK WORKING PAPER SERIES WORKING PAPER NO 138 NEW VIEWS ON THE OPTIMUM CURRENCY AREA THEORY: WHAT IS EMU TELLING US? BY FRANCESCO PAOLO MONGELLI April 2002 * I would like to thank for their comments and suggestions George Tavlas, Ivo Maes, Mike Artis, Vítor Gaspar, Ignazio Angeloni, Geoff Barnard, Philippe Moutot, Gabe de Bondt, Ad Van Riet, Maria Demertzis, Ioannis Gannoulis, Michael Kramer, Benoît Mojon, Alberto Musso, Benjamin Sahel, Ciro Schioppa, Birgitte Ilving, Patricia Lyon, and several participants to presentations at the Royal Economic Society Annual Conference on March 2002, the ECB and the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt I remain responsible for any error and omission The views expressed are mine and do not necessarily reflect those of the ECB

3 European Central Bank, 2002 Address Kaiserstrasse 29 D Frankfurt am Main Germany Postal address Postfach D Frankfurt am Main Germany Telephone Internet ecb int Fax Telex ecb d All rights reserved Reproduction for educational and non-commercial purposes is permitted provided that the source is acknowledged The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Central Bank ISSN

4 Contents Abstract 4 Non-technical summary 5 1 Introduction 7 2 The Pioneering phase : from the Early 1960s to the Early 1970s 8 3 The Reconciliation phase : the 1970s 11 4 The Reassessment phase : the 1980s and Early 1990s 14 5 Empirical studies of OCA: from the 1980s to today 17 6 A tale of two paradigms: specialisation versus endogeneity of OCA 27 7 Some concluding remarks 31 Appendix 1 The main benefits and costs associated with a currency area 33 References 35 European Central Bank Working Paper Series 46 ECB Working Paper No 138 April

5 Abstract This paper surveys the optimum currency area (OCA) literature. It is organised into four phases: the pioneering phase which put forward the OCA theory and its properties, the reconciliation phase when its diverse facets were combined, the reassessment phase that led to the new OCA theory, and the empirical phase during which the theory was subject to due empirical scrutiny. We make systematic reference to the European economic and monetary union (EMU) to which the OCA theory has been most frequently applied. All pioneering contributions are still relevant. Several early weaknesses have now been amended. Meanwhile, the balance of judgements has shifted in favour of currency unions. They are now deemed to generate fewer costs in terms of the loss of autonomy of domestic macroeconomic policies, and there is greater emphasis on the benefits. Looking ahead we are confronted with two distinct paradigms -- specialisation versus endogeneity of OCA. JEL classification: E42, F15, F33 and F41. Keyword: Optimum Currency Area, Economic and Monetary Integration, International Monetary Arrangements, and EMU 4 ECB Working Paper No 138 April 2002

6 Non-Technical Summary This paper surveys the literature on the optimum currency area (OCA) theory. It is organised into four main phases. The first is the pioneering phase from the early 1960s to the early 1970s. The achievement of this phase was to put forward the OCA properties, start the debate on the borders of a currency area, and initiate the analysis of the benefits and costs from monetary integration. The OCA properties include: the mobility of labour and other factors of production, price and wage flexibility, economic openness, and diversification in production and consumption, similarity in inflation rates, fiscal integration and political integration. The similarity of shock and correlation of incomes was added later. Sharing these properties reduces the usefulness of nominal exchange rate adjustments within the currency area. The main drawback of the pioneering phase was that it was difficult to weigh and reconcile the diverse OCA properties as a unifying framework was missing. Also most OCA properties had no clear empirical content yet. In the reconciliation phase during the 1970s, a second set of contributions jointly examined the OCA properties. This represented an important advancement as properties started to be analysed and weighed with one another to gauge their relative importance. This phase also provided several new insights, a new meta-property (i.e., the similarity of shocks), and gave more structure to the analysis of the costs and benefits. However, most OCA properties continued to lack an empirical content. After these two phases, the development of the OCA theory lost some momentum. In particular, there were a problem of inconclusiveness, as OCA properties may point in different directions, a weakening of the analytical framework behind the OCA theory thus far, and a slow-down in the process of European monetary integration. However, gradually several theoretical and empirical advancements lead to a reassessment of the OCA theory and of the main benefits and costs from monetary unification. The balance of judgements shifted in favour of currency unions. Association to a currency union is now deemed to generate fewer costs in terms of the loss of autonomy of domestic macroeconomic policies. There is now also more emphasis on the benefits of currency areas. Some OCA properties were reinterpreted. This reassessment phase of the 1980s and early 1990s led to the new theory of optimum currency area. In the second half of the 1980s interest in monetary integration was rekindled and the members of the European Union faced an EMU question, concerning the timing and modalities of implementing a currency union once the political decisions to create one has been taken. This question was brought out forcefully by the One Market, One Money Report. The authors of the report looked at the OCA theory but could not find clear answers. They proceeded instead by using, but also extending, the elements of the new theory of OCA. They also discussed the main desirable institutional features of EMU. The fourth phase is the empirical phase that spans over the last years. All OCA properties are reviewed in great detail to find out how their interpretation has changed. This discussion shows that the pioneering intuitions of the OCA theory were remarkably strong. In fact, we still discuss all OCA properties. Have all the theoretical and empirical advancements of the last 20 years rendered the OCA theory any simpler? Yes and no. There is still no simple OCA-test with a clear-cut scoring card although several authors have operationalised several OCA properties. On the one hand, we are in a better position now than ever before in many respects. All OCA properties can now be discussed in much greater detail. Studies of OCA properties have become very comprehensive and articulated. This makes it possible to assess to what extent, and why, certain properties are shared, or not shared, by partner countries. On the other hand, ECB Working Paper No 138 April

7 we are in a somewhat harder position now because the response of agents to economic changes and the policy regime -- and EMU represents in some respects a structural break -- is conditioned in a complex way by the environment in which they operate. However, in any case important insights can be gained by studying all OCA properties in great detail for any group of countries envisaging monetary unification. Most studies investigating OCA properties are by necessity backward looking and would not reflect a change in policy preferences, or a switch in policy regime. However, as already said, EMU represent a structural break. A question naturally arises: what type of forces might monetary unification unleash? Looking ahead, we may be confronted with two distinct paradigms -- specialisation versus endogeneity of OCA -- which have different implications on the benefits and costs from a single currency. National specialisation may lead to a decline in diversification and in income correlation. In this case the cost from loosing direct control over national monetary policy -- e.g., to undertake business-cycle stabilisation -- may be higher. Some authors believe instead that the OCA test could be satisfied ex post even if it is not fully satisfied ex ante: this is the endogeneity of OCA paradigm. The borders of new currency unions could be drawn larger in expectation that trade integration and income correlation will augment once a currency union is created. This paradigm is causing both excitement and scepticism. On the one hand, there is compelling empirical evidence that removing borders broadly intended as impediments to trade (as with the creation of a free trade zone, a custom union and a common market) and sharing a single currency (as national currencies also represent an impediment to trade) is a powerful magnet for deeper trade and overall integration. On the other hand, could any set of partner countries form a currency union and just wait for the deeper integration to occur almost automatically and thereby inevitably reap net benefits from a single currency? Is there a critical lower threshold in the mix of OCA properties beyond which the endogeneity of OCA types of effects could manifest themselves? The forces behind both paradigms and their relative importance and effects need to be better understood. Do countries form currency unions because they trade a lot, or start trading more because they form a currency union? Could both the specialisation and endogeneity of OCA paradigms be reconciled? 6 ECB Working Paper No 138 April 2002

8 1. Introduction This paper surveys the literature on optimum currency area (OCA) through its main phases. We make also systematic reference to the European experience with economic and monetary union (EMU), which is the most important example of recently established currency unions and the one to which the OCA theory has been most frequently applied. An optimum currency area (OCA) is defined here as the optimal geographic domain of a single currency, or of several currencies, whose exchange rates are irrevocably pegged and might be unified. The single currency, or the pegged currencies, can fluctuate only in unison against the rest of the world. The domain of an OCA is given by the sovereign countries choosing to adopt a single currency or to irrevocably peg their exchange rates. Optimality is defined in terms of several OCA properties, including the mobility of labour and other factors of production, price and wage flexibility, economic openness, diversification in production and consumption, similarity in inflation rates, fiscal integration and political integration. Sharing the above properties reduces the usefulness of nominal exchange rate adjustments within the currency area by fostering internal and external balance, reducing the impact of some types of shocks or facilitating the adjustment thereafter. Countries would form a currency area in expectation that current and future benefits exceed costs. The start of the OCA theory are the seminal contributions by Mundell (1961), McKinnon (1963), and Kenen (1969) although some insights were present already in Friedman (1953) and Meade (1957). The goal of this paper is to trace the evolution of the OCA theory. The European experience is, in some sense, providing a laboratory to assess each OCA property and how their interpretation has changed over time. 1 At the same time, a variety of studies - such as on the similarity of shocks, the endogeneity of OCA, and the effects of monetary integration on specialisation - is making reference to the OCA theory. This paper intends to find some common threads across these OCA-related studies. The paper does not put the final word on the OCA theory, far from that. Neither it tries to assess the euro area as an OCA. Rather it presents a set of thoughts and questions for further consideration. We recognise four main phases of the optimum currency area theory. Each of these phases has provided its own distinct contributions. The first is the pioneering phase from the early 1960s to the early 1970s. The enormous merit of this phase, discussed in Section 2, was to bring out the OCA properties, that are still discussed today, to start the debate on the borders of a currency area, and to initiate the analysis on the resulting benefits and costs. The main drawback of this phase was that it was difficult to reconcile the OCA properties as a unifying framework was missing, and most properties had no clear empirical content. In the reconciliation phase during the 1970s, a second set of contributions jointly examined the OCA properties. This phase, examined in Section 3, represented an important advancement as properties started to be analysed, and weighed with one another to gauge their relative importance. This provided several new insights, brought a new meta-property, the similarity of shocks, and gave more structure to the analysis of the cost and benefit. However, most OCA properties continued to lack an empirical content. After these two phases, the OCA theory lost some momentum. In particular, there was a problem of inconclusiveness, as OCA properties may point in different directions, and a 1 The main steps of European integration include the Treaty of Rome of 1957, the adoption of a common agricultural policy in 1965, the custom union established in 1968, the Single Market Programme launched in 1985, the Single European Act of 1986, the increase of shared competencies, the centralisation of several regulatory functions, the setting up of the European System of Central Banks with the ECB at its centre in June 1998 and the launch of the single currency in January 1999 (see Vanthoor (1999), Smets, Maes and Michielsen (2000), and Maes (2000)). ECB Working Paper No 138 April

9 problem of inconsistency, as some countries may seem suitable to fix their exchange rate with their main partners according to some of their characteristics but not according to others. There was also a weakening of the analytical framework behind the OCA theory thus far, and a slow-down in the process of European monetary integration. However, gradually several theoretical and empirical advancements lead to a reassessment of the main benefits and costs from monetary unification. The balance of judgements shifted in favour of currency unions. Association to a currency union is now deemed to generate fewer costs in terms of the loss of autonomy of domestic macroeconomic policies. There is now also more emphasis on the benefits of currency areas. Some OCA properties were reinterpreted. This reassessment phase of OCA of the 1980s and early 1990s led to the new theory of optimum currency area that is discussed in Section 4. In the second half of the 1980s interest in monetary integration rekindled and the members of the European Union faced an EMU question, concerning the timing and modalities of implementing a currency union once the political decisions to create one has been taken. 2 This question was brought out forcefully by the One Market, One Money report (Emerson et al. (1992)). The authors of the report looked at the OCA theory but could not find clear answers. 3 They proceeded instead by using, but also extending, the elements of the new theory of OCA. The fourth phase is the empirical phase that spans over the last years and is examined in Section 5. We focus here mostly on Europe because there is now a wealth of data, research and other information available on Europe. All OCA properties are reviewed in great detail to find out how their interpretation has changed. However, most studies investigating OCA properties are by necessity backward looking. But monetary integration would represent a structural break for any group of countries adopting a new single currency. Several authors are asking what type of forces monetary integration might unleash. Looking ahead, we may be confronted with two distinct paradigms -- specialisation versus endogeneity of OCA -- that have different implications on the benefits and costs from a single currency, as discussed in Section 6. Each section presents some observations, and Section 7 provides some conclusions. Appendix 1 lists the main benefits and costs associated with currency union. 2. The pioneering Phase: from the Early 1960s to the Early 1970s The early 1960s were characterised by the Bretton Wood exchange rate regime, capital controls in many countries, and the incipient process of European integration. The OCA theory emerged from the debate on the merits of fixed versus flexible exchange rate regimes, and the comparison of several features of the US and European economies. Various OCA properties that are also called prerequisites, characteristics, or criteria for monetary integration by some authors -- emerged from this debate. a. Price and wage flexibility. When nominal prices and wages are flexible between and within countries contemplating a single currency, the transition towards adjustment following a disturbance (in this paper the terms shocks and disturbance are used interchangeably) is less 2 The OCA question aims instead at defining the optimal geographic domain of a single currency: the set of countries in this domain is in principle unknown a priori. It will depend on the OCA properties. 3 The question of whether Europe is an optimum currency area is not one, unfortunately, which can be answered with a simple yes or no. The OCA literature does not provide a formal test through whose application the hypothesis can be accepted or rejected according to Eichengreen (1990). In fact, frustration about the normative implications of the OCA theory has led some authors to define alternative notions such as feasible currency area (Corden (1972)), advantageous monetary area (Emerson et al (1992)), viable currency area, and other hybrid concepts. 8 ECB Working Paper No 138 April 2002

10 likely to be associated with sustained unemployment in one country and/or inflation in another. This will in turn diminish the need for nominal exchange rate adjustments (Friedman (1953)). Alternatively, if nominal prices and wages are downward rigid some measure of real flexibility could be achieved by means of exchange rate adjustments. In this case the loss of direct control over the nominal exchange rate instrument represents a cost (Kawai (1987)). Price and wage flexibility are particularly important in the very short run to facilitate the adjustment process following a shock. Permanent shocks will in turn entail permanent changes in real prices and wages. b. Mobility of factors of production including labour. High factor market integration within a group of partner countries can reduce the need to alter real factor prices, and the nominal exchange rate, between countries in response to disturbances (Mundell (1961)). Trade theory has long established that the mobility of factors of production allows their reallocation across a free-trade zone, and is efficiency and welfare enhancing for the zone as a whole. Such mobility is likely to be modest in the very short run and could display its effect over time. The mobility of physical factors of production (i.e., capital ) is limited by the pace at which direct investment can be generated by one country and absorbed by another. Labour mobility is likely to be low in the very short run, due to some costs, such as migration and retraining costs (that could be quite significant). It could possibly be higher in the medium and long-run, easing the adjustment to permanent shocks (Corden (1972)). c. Financial market integration. Ingram (1962) noted that financial integration can reduce the need for exchange rate adjustments. It permits, amongst others, to cushion temporary adverse disturbances through capital inflows -- e.g. by borrowing from surplus areas or decumulating net foreign assets that can be reverted when the shock is over. Under a high degree of financial integration even modest changes in interest rates would elicit equilibrating capital movements across partner countries. This would reduce differences in long-term interest rates, easing the financing of external imbalances but also fostering an efficient allocation of resources. Financial integration is not a substitute for a permanent adjustment when necessary: in this case, it can only smoothen the long-term adjustment process. d. The degree of economic openness. The higher the degree of openness, the more changes in international prices of tradables are likely to be transmitted to the domestic cost of living. This would in turn reduce the potential for money and/or exchange rate illusion by wage earners (McKinnon (1963)): the higher is openness the more changes in international prices would directly and indirectly impact on domestic prices. Also a devaluation would be more rapidly transmitted to the price of tradables and the cost of living, negating its intended effects. Hence, the nominal exchange rate would be less useful as an adjustment instrument. Economic openness has various dimensions including the degree of trade integration (i.e., the ratio of reciprocal exports plus imports over GDP) with the partner countries, the share of tradables versus non-tradable goods and services in production and consumption; the marginal propensity to import; and international capital mobility. These concepts overlap but are not necessarily synonymous. An economy could display a high share of tradables but have low imports and exports (and exhibit a low foreign trade multiplier). e. The diversification in production and consumption. A high diversification in production and consumption, i.e., in the portfolio of jobs, and correspondingly in imports and exports, dilutes the possible impact of shocks specific to any particular sector. Therefore diversification reduces the need for changes in the terms of trade via the nominal exchange rate and provides insulation against a variety of disturbances (Kenen (1969)). More diversified partner countries are more likely to endure small costs from forsaking nominal exchange rate changes amongst them and find a single currency beneficial. f. Similarities of inflation rates. External imbalances can arise from persistent differences in national inflation rates resulting, inter alia, from: disparities in structural ECB Working Paper No 138 April

11 developments, diversities in labour market institutions, differences in economic policies, and diverse social preferences (such as inflation aversion). Fleming (1971) notes that when inflation rates between countries are [low and] similar over time, terms of trade will also remain fairly stable. This will in turn foster more equilibrated current account transactions and trade, and reduce the need for nominal exchange rate adjustments. On the other hand, not all inflation differentials are necessarily problematic. Some catching up process by less developed countries could lead to Balassa-Samuelson types of effects until the process is completed. Some authors propose instead that it is the terms of trade (i.e., the real exchange rate) that should exhibit narrow fluctuations between countries (Eichengreen (1990)). g. Fiscal integration. Countries sharing a supra-national fiscal transfer system that would allow them to redistribute funds to a member country affected by an adverse asymmetric shock would also be facilitated in the adjustment to such shocks and might require less nominal exchange rate adjustments (Kenen (1969)). However, such a property would require an advanced degree of political integration and willingness to undertake such risk sharing. h. Political integration. The political will to integrate is regarded by some as the single most important condition for adopting a common currency (Mintz (1970)). Political will fosters, amongst others, compliance with joint commitments, sustains co-operation on various economic policies, and encourages more institutional linkages. Haberler (1970) stresses that similarity of policy attitudes among partner countries is relevant in turning a group of countries into a successful currency area. Tower and Willett (1976) add that a successful currency area needs a reasonable degree of compatibility in preferences toward growth, inflation, and unemployment and significant ability by policy-makers in trading-off between objectives. There has also been a debate about the links between political, economic and monetary integration. The European process of integration has privileged economic integration. From the Treaty of Rome (1957) onward, the bulk of the institutional steps toward integration has been aimed at creating a free trade zone, a custom union, a common market, and an economic union over time. Hence, in Europe a functional integration process has prevailed (Figure 1) with economic integration as its starting point and as its driving force and spurring over time monetary and some forms of political integration (Issing (2001)). Figure 1. A View of Economic, Monetary and Political Integration Functional Integration Process Underlying Treaty of Rome (1957) POLITICAL INTEGRATION ECONOMIC INTEGRATION MONETARY INTEGRATION EI starting point EI, then exerted pressure towards MI and also PI Over the years the OCA theory has also been accompanied by a rich debate on the institutional features and setting of a monetary union (see for example Kenen (1969 and 1992), Corden (1972 and 1993), and Allen (1976)), and the impossible trinity: i.e., the impossibility to reconcile free trade and capital mobility, monetary autonomy, and fixed exchange rates (see Padoa-Schioppa (1990)). 10 ECB Working Paper No 138 April 2002

12 Some observations on the pioneering phase The pioneering authors also initiated a debate on the benefits and costs from adopting a single currency. This debate that is continuing to these days has important implications on the motivation to form a currency area among a group of partner countries. Several OCA properties still needed to be spelled out and analysed in some detail. Robson (1987) observes that several properties are difficult to measure unambiguously and evaluate against each other. Also the pioneering phase as a whole lacked a unifying framework. One could still end up drawing different borders for a currency area by referring to different OCA properties. Tavlas (1994) calls this the problem of inconclusiveness, as OCA properties may point in different directions: for example, a country might be quite open in terms of reciprocal trade with a group of partner countries indicating the preferability of a fixed exchange rate regime, or even monetary integration, with its main trading partners. However, the same country might display low mobility of factors of production and labour vis-à-vis these trading partners suggesting instead that a flexible exchange rate arrangement might be desirable in order to cope with shocks originating from outside this group. Tavlas (1994) also observes that there can be a problem of inconsistency. For example, small economies, that are generally more open, should preferably adopt a fixed exchange rate, or even integrate monetarily, with their main partners following the openness property. However, the same small economies are more likely to be less differentiated in production than larger ones. In this case they would be better candidates for flexible exchange rates according to the diversification in production property. Conversely, McKinnon (1969) notes that more differentiated economies are generally larger and have smaller trade sector. How would OCA properties in any case be ranked? Price and wage flexibility, and the mobility of factors of production including labour, had a prominent role in the debate. Financial market integration was deemed to be very relevant. However, at least until the mid- 1980s for several European countries full capital mobility and convertibility was still the exception rather than the rule. Inflation differentials were still relatively small but not negligible until the oil shocks (at least compared with the differentials of the subsequent periods). Economic openness and the diversification in production and consumption tended to display their effects through product and labour markets. The political will to integrate was understood to be a crucial prerequisite to pursue integration in most of the other areas. 3. The Reconciliation Phase: the 1970s The debate on the OCA properties and the benefits and costs received an impetus from a second wave of contributions including Corden (1972), Mundell (1973), Ishiyama (1975), and Tower and Willet (1976). The merit of these authors was to jointly interpret the diverse properties. This reconciliation strengthened the interpretation of some properties and led to diverse new insights such as the role of similarity in shocks. Corden (1972) points out that forming a currency area with a group of partner countries entails a loss of direct control over the national monetary policy and the exchange rate. This entails forsaking national expenditure switching policies implying a cost to the extent that nominal prices and wages are downward rigid. 4 In a currency area, a country 4 For example, a country faced with an adverse demand shock to its exports would not be able to devalue its currency and regain some of its lost exports. This country has then fewer policy options at its disposal in the currency area rather than with a different regime. It would need to endure either a bout of unemployment or let its real prices and wages fall. Behind this cost there is a stabilisation framework, and the belief that at least in the short run, monetary policy is an effective policy ECB Working Paper No 138 April

13 facing an adverse demand shock to its exports will need to resort instead to expenditure absorption policies -- such as a fiscal tightening or expansion -- to restore its external balance. At the same time, it would also need to rely on changes in its real exchange rate. Flexibility in nominal prices and wages can bring about real exchange rate flexibility in the wake of some shocks or in the presence of some imbalances. This could in turn reduce the amount of absorption policy that is needed. In fact, there is a trade-off between real exchange rate flexibility, that is market-based and could operate quite rapidly, and the amount of expenditure absorption policy, which is less rapid. Ishiyama (1975) recognises the limitations of defining OCAs based on a single property and postulates that each country should evaluate the costs and benefits of participating in a currency area from the point of view of its own self-interest and welfare ( if the pros outweigh the cons. ). Ishiyama also points out that differences in inflation rates and wage increase resulting from different social preferences, and conflicting national demand management policies overwhelm in importance several other OCA properties (including differences in exposure to micro-shocks most of which are likely to be temporary). Tower and Willett (1976) illustrate with a graphical apparatus the diverse OCAproperties and the trade-offs they entail vis-à-vis alternative exchange rate regimes. They show, amongst others, that joining a currency area enhances the usefulness of money the more open a country is, but it constrains the use of discretionary macroeconomic policies to achieve internal balance due to the external constraint for the area as a whole. The total cost of adjustment hinges upon the sources, type and strength of external disturbances. Such costs are a decreasing function of openness. In the end, they argue, that there is no general agreement on the quantitative importance of any OCA property, and highlight the need for more empirical research. However, the OCA theory has thus far been a catalyser for new research on alternative exchange rate regimes leading to valuable new insights. The merit for a currency area rests also on the type, and similarity, of shocks that a country, and its envisaged monetary partners, face. There is an important difference between foreign versus domestically generated shocks. McKinnon (1963) postulates that, for example, Country A has to decide whether to integrate monetarily with Country B that displays very stable domestic prices and factor costs (i.e., it is a low inflation country). Instead, country A is prone to some micro shocks such as domestic shifts in demand and supply. By fixing its exchange rate with Country B the latter will safeguard the stability of prices of foreign goods (i.e. of tradables), retain the benefits from deeper trade integration and investment flows, and prop up the usefulness of money (by maintaining its value in terms of foreign goods). Obviously, the domestic micro shocks in Country A would still impinge on its domestic prices of non-tradables. But, the alternative of maintaining a flexible exchange rate arrangement would be certainly inferior, as there would be price instability in terms of both domestic and foreign prices entailing higher costs as well as lower benefits. It is noteworthy that this argument also anticipates the issue of a nominal anchor. Some years later, following the demise of Bretton Wood, and with a higher inflation climate world-wide, a rather different challenge arose. Corden (1972) noted that nominal exchange rate changes may have an insulating role with respect to price changes originating abroad. If Country A now endured uncertain foreign prices (such as higher energy prices) originating in Country C (that is an oil exporter), it would be better off by insulating itself, to the extent possible, by undertaking an exchange rate appreciation: i.e., Country A could be protecting itself from inflation imported from Country C. Evidently, in this latter example Countries A and C would not be suitable candidates to form a monetary union. Countries A instrument and, jointly with flexible exchange rates, it could facilitate the adjustment of relative wages and prices in the wake of some types of shocks ( fine-tuning ). This would provide a less costly adjustment than having to endure some unemployment to facilitate a real adjustment. 12 ECB Working Paper No 138 April 2002

14 and B could, eventually. As Tavlas (1994) points out a group of countries with similar characteristics and that respond in similar ways to shocks will require less exchange rate adjustment between them. This group would form a feasible currency area (Corden (1972)). During the reconciliation phase, the analysis of the OCA properties and of the cost and benefit acquired more structure. Several authors assign a high prominence to the analysis of the benefits and costs from participating in a currency area. After all, the prospects of a positive balance between benefits and costs is the principal reason for contemplating monetary integration with one or more partner countries. A few authors separate between the analysis of OCA properties, that may be rather inconclusive, and the analysis of the main benefits and costs, that has its own merits irrespective of the OCA theory (Ishiyama (1975). Benefits result principally from the increased usefulness of money, greater price transparency that will foster competition, the disappearance of intra-area nominal exchange rate uncertainty that will strengthen the internal market, foster trade, lower investment risks, and promote cross-area foreign direct investments (FDI) and enhance resource allocation (see Appendix 1 for a more extensive discussion). Other benefits will result from more transparent and deeper financial markets, savings on transaction costs, and a wider international circulation of the single currency. On the other side there are changeover costs from switching to a new currency, increased administrative costs due to the creation of a supranational institution, and national government will be prevented from equalising the marginal cost from taxation and inflation. Membership in a currency area narrows the menu of policy instruments directly available to national governments. McKinnon (2001) rediscovers a second seminal contribution by Mundell (1973). This contribution discusses the role of financial integration, in the form of cross-country asset holding, for international risk sharing. Countries sharing a single currency can mitigate the effects of asymmetric shocks among them through the diversification of their income sources, by adjusting its wealth portfolio, and by pooling their foreign exchange reserves. 5 A corollary of this argument is that similarity of shocks is not a strict prerequisite for sharing a single currency if all members of the currency area are financially integrated and hold claims on each others output. This point has important implications on the debate about the size of a single currency area. A common currency could be shared by countries subject to idiosyncratic shocks as long as they insure one another through private financial markets. Some observations on the reconciliation phase This phase has the merit of having brought together the main OCA properties and discussed the narrower policy options under direct control of national governments. A new meta-property was advanced: i.e., the similarity of shocks. The analysis of the cost and benefit associated with a currency area acquired more structure. However, most OCA properties still lacked an empirical content. The weaknesses in the analytical framework started to emerge more clearly and are discussed in the next section. The ranking of OCA properties also changed somewhat. Corden holds that price and wage flexibility rank the highest and can permit rapid responses to disturbances. Openness and similarity in shocks are also important. But Mundell (1973) argues that if members of a 5 The international diversification of income sources can operate through income insurance when residents of a country hold claims to dividends, interests and rental revenue in other countries. Such exante insurance allows the smoothing of both temporary and permanent shocks as long as output is imperfectly correlated. But a country s residents can adjust their wealth portfolio in response to income fluctuations by buying and selling assets and borrowing and lending on international credit markets. Such ex-post adjustment allows the smoothing of transitory shocks (see Kalemli-Ozcan, Sørensen and Yosha (2001) and references therein). ECB Working Paper No 138 April

15 currency area are financially integrated, a high similarity of shocks among them, although desirable, is no longer a strict prerequisite. This has relevant implications for the debate about the size of a currency area. The mobility of factors of production and labour is highly desirable but also entails some costs and cannot effectively cope with disturbances in the very short-term. For Ishiyama, similarity in price and wage inflation ranks the highest. Tower and Willett are instead more agnostic. Corden also postulates that short-term capital movements can contribute to easing the adjustment process, and that the flexibility of fiscal policy should be raised to undertake expenditure absorption policies if needed. 4. The Reassessment Phase: the 1980s and Early 1990s A period in which the subject [i.e., the OCA theory] was for years consigned to intellectual limbo (Tavlas (1993)) followed the above contributions. The analytical framework behind the OCA theory thus far started to weaken. Some authors noted that this pause is also explained by the loss of momentum toward monetary integration. When interest in European monetary integration re-emerged in the mid 1980s, both economists and policymakers looked back at the OCA theory, but could not find clear answers to the question whether Europe should proceed toward complete monetary integration. The One Market, One Money Report by Emerson et al. (1992) point out that there is no ready-to-use theory for assessing the costs and benefits of economic and monetary union (EMU). The optimum currency area theory has, in their view, provided important early insights but provides only a narrow and outdated analytical framework to define the optimum economic and monetary competencies of a given geographic domain (i.e., a region such as the EU). The latter EMU question is, possibly, more complex than the OCA question. We review here several fields in which the analytical framework behind the OCA theory thus far underwent a revision. These revisions are important for the normative implications from the OCA theory. This reassessment lead in fact to a reconsideration of the effective costs and benefits from monetary integration. This has in turn a bearing on the debate on the size (i.e., borders) and timing of currency areas. At the end of this reassessment phase a new OCA theory starts emerging vis-à-vis the old OCA theory (Tavlas (1993)). The long-run ineffectiveness of monetary policy One of the main perceived costs from monetary integration is that member countries loose direct control over national monetary policy. This prevents them from undertaking business-cycle stabilisation: the cost that is represented by wider cyclical fluctuations, is more severe when shocks are asymmetric vis-à-vis the other partner countries. The monetarist critique of the short-term constant Phillips curve, underlying some of the earlier OCA literature, alters the assessment of this specific cost by noticing that labour negotiates in terms of real wages rather than nominal wages. Correspondingly, the curve needs to be augmented by expected inflation, and perfectly anticipated policy changes could exert no impact upon real variables (McCallum (1989)). The Phillips Curve was then displaced by the natural rate of unemployment (NRU). Policy makers have principally a choice of a rate of inflation rather than of a level of desired unemployment and economic activity (Artis (1991)). Hence, from this standpoint, the costs from losing direct control over national monetary policy is low. Alesina, Barro and Tenreyro (2002) argue that countries exhibiting large comovements of outputs and prices have the lowest costs from abandoning monetary independence vis-à-vis their partners. Calvo and Reinhart (2002) raises the issue that to the extent that monetary policy is not properly used as a stabilisation device, the loss of monetary independence is not a substantial cost. 14 ECB Working Paper No 138 April 2002

16 Emerson et al. and several other authors demonstrate that, also in the long run, relatively higher inflation does not yield any macroeconomic benefits in terms of unemployment or growth. On the contrary, higher inflation is associated with higher unemployment and relatively lower levels of real per capita income. Unanticipated inflation has even stronger adverse economic effects than anticipated inflation through several channels. The costs of reducing inflation can also be quite substantial (see the discussion on credibility below). These findings have implications for the analysis of the current and future benefits and costs from currency union and the role of monetary policy (see Issing, Gaspar, Angeloni, and Tristani (2001), ECB (2001a) and references therein). The view on the ineffectiveness of monetary policy is not undisputed though. There are potential sources of money non-neutrality (Tavlas (1993)). Melitz (1991) notes that even countries confronted with identical shocks may require different policy responses due to differences in their initial economic positions, degree of price and wage flexibility, tax structures, trade responsiveness, and preferences. Members of a currency area may have different dislikes for inflation and be worse off by sharing a single currency (De Grauwe (2000)). In more recent years several studies have also reconsidered the trade-off between low levels of inflation and unemployment (see, amongst others, Akerlof, Dickens and Perry (2000)). 6 Groshen and Schweitzer (1999, 2000) take instead a different approach. They find that in the US higher nominal wage growth contributes to ease downward wage rigidities ( grease ). However, simultaneously, inflation also generates disruptive, unintended wage variations ( sand ) from symmetrical rigidities. These variations continue to mount long after the benefits have been exhausted. Thus, rigidities interact with levels of inflation, implying that grease-only benefit estimates exaggerate the negative impact of low inflation. In summary, the costs from losing direct control over national monetary policy seem rather low, but subject to the above qualifications. The Credibility Issue The ability of a country, or a group of countries, to achieve and maintain inflation low, is important in evaluating the costs from monetary integration. Some governments could have an incentive to renege on a low inflation commitment, that has been accepted at face value by the public, in order to reduce unemployment along some short-run Phillips curve (Kydland and Prescott (1977) and Barro and Gordon (1983)). But economic agents quickly learn about such a strategy. After a surge in inflation the publics expected inflation increases. Even future surges in inflation may be discounted eroding any initial short-lived gain from previous announcements of a low inflation objective. Similarly, devaluations can also engender strong and lasting expectational effects. This country may be trapped in a high inflation equilibrium at the NRU. The cost of disinflating on its own may be quite steep. For a country with a track record of relatively higher inflation and a reputation for breaking low inflation promises, a way to immediately gain a low-inflation credibility is to tie its hands by forsaking national monetary sovereignty and establishing a complete monetary union with a low inflation country (Giavazzi and Giovannini (1989)). An important prerequisite is that such an anchor country exists in the envisaged monetary union. This low 6 Akerlof, Dickens and Perry (2000) inquire how agents actually use expectations rather than how they form them. Some recent psychological studies show that people concentrate on the information that matters most to them. An economic stimulus (such as a change in the rate of inflation) must pass a certain threshold before it is even perceived. The result is that price and wage setters under-adjust for inflation when it is not very high. In fact, the cost from near-rational behaviour in terms of lost profits is negligible when rates of inflation are very low. But at successively higher rates of inflation, more and more agents and firms will fully adjust for expected inflation when setting wages and prices. There is a point of lowest sustainable unemployment that lies below the natural rate of unemployment (NRU) but above zero inflation. The result is a Phillips curve that is vertical at the NRU at both high levels of inflation and with zero inflation, but has an inflection at some moderate rate of inflation. ECB Working Paper No 138 April

17 inflation anchor country has instead fully recognised the costs of high and variable inflation (Goodhart (1989)), has built a strong track record of low and stable inflation, and will not alter its monetary discipline after establishing the monetary union: i.e., this country can indeed provide the nominal anchor for the monetary union (Rogoff (1996) and Goodhart. In summary, similarities of inflation rates could be a feasible outcome from participating in a monetary union but is not a necessary precondition (Gandolfo (1992)). This turns around one of the main OCA properties provided that the nominal anchor country can maintain the hegemony of the institutional setting that have preserved the low inflation environment (Tavlas (1993)). The benefits of a quick transition to low inflation -- and the absence of heavy costs of disinflation -- are of course the highest for the countries with a track record of relatively higher and variable inflation. Are Exchange Rate Adjustments in Any Case Effective? Are changes in nominal exchange rate actually effective? If not, the cost from losing direct control over the nominal exchange rate instrument would be as significant as previously thought. There are two differing views on this matter. The first view is that changes in nominal exchange rates do not foster adjustments of external disequilibria, as was assumed by the old optimum currency area theory that used a trade-flow model of exchange rate determination (see Krugman (1991 and 1993), De Grauwe (2000) and Tavlas (1993)). Exchange rate changes operate instead with considerable lags due to the slowness of the portfolio-balance channel (Branson (1986)). With Ricardian equivalence and perfect foresightedness by agents, changes in macroeconomic policies may not affect current exchange rate (De Grauwe (1989)). Canzoneri, Vallés and Viñals (1996) show that the cost from having no nominal exchange rate for countries joining EMU is likely to be low because movements in exchange rates are dominated by monetary and financial shocks preventing the exchange rate from performing the macroeconomic stabilisation function. Last, the sunk cost model of Krugman and the pricing to market model, also illustrate why rational firms may not always quickly alter their export prices. This reduces therefore the effectiveness of nominal exchange rate changes. The second view is that some episodes of nominal exchange rate adjustment have been effective. De Grauwe (2000) notes that the 1982 devaluation in Belgium has helped to restore domestic and trade account equilibrium at a cost that was most probably lower than if it had not used the exchange rate instrument. The French devaluation of also stands out (Sachs and Wyplosz (1986)). The Italian devaluation after the exit from the ERM in 1992 contributed to sustain economic activity. These and other episodes illustrate that some nominal exchange rate adjustments could be quite effective under very specific circumstances: i.e., if they are accompanied by a credible attempt to correct the sources of a disequilibrium, and if they are seen as a one-off remedy: i.e., the exchange rate instrument cannot be used systematically. 7 Hence, according to those holding the second view, there could be some costs from losing direct control over the exchange rate instrument. This cost would actually manifest itself in more severe deflation following some shocks. The remedy is of course to enhance real exchange rate flexibility by raising price and wage flexibility. 7 Mike Artis noted that the suggestion that nominal exchange rate changes do not translate very durably into real exchange rate was one of the factors that helped to propel the EMU project, even though, ironically the post-1992 experience did not validate the new wisdom on this subject. Foreign exchange markets seem, at times, far from the paradigm where they are bound to support equilibrium results: on the contrary they seem to be open to herd behaviours, irrational fads and the like. 16 ECB Working Paper No 138 April 2002

18 The Single Currency and Labour Markets Differences in labour market institutions could lead to divergent developments in wages and prices even in the presence of similar shocks. Bruno and Sachs (1985) point out that supply shocks can have very different macroeconomic effects depending on the degree of centralisation in wage bargaining. When wage bargaining is quite centralised, the labour unions tend to internalise the inflationary effects of wage increases, changes in real wages may be contained, and the negative supply shock will have a shorter duration and be less disruptive for economic activity. Countries with strong decentralisation (e.g., with wage bargaining conducted principally at the firm level allowing the internalisation of wage claims on the competitiveness of the firm) would also fare better in the wake of a supply shocks than countries with an intermediate degree of centralisation (see Calmfors and Driffil (1988) who note that the relationship between centralisation of wage bargaining and labour market outcome is not linear). Therefore, countries with differences in labour market institutions may find it costly, from this standpoint, to form a monetary union (De Grauwe (2000)). Some observations on the reassessment phase The revisions to the analytical framework behind the old OCA theory lead to a new optimum currency area theory (Tavlas (1993)). The analytical apparatus to tackle both the OCA and the EMU question has now changed owing to new views on the short-term Phillips Curve, the credibility issue and the importance of a nominal anchor, the internalisation of the benefits of low inflation, the effects of a single currency on labour markets, and the views on the low effectiveness of exchange rate changes. An important legacy of this phase is that there are somewhat fewer costs in terms of the loss of autonomy of domestic macroeconomic policies. There are also more benefits, due to credibility gains, for countries with a track record of higher and more variable inflation (the similarity of inflation property can then be satisfied ex-post). The One Market, One Money Report holds a critical view of the old optimum currency area theory. However, it also contributed to revitalising the interest in the debate on the OCA theory, brought together many strands of theoretical and empirical literature (directly or indirectly related to the OCA theory), and spurred a vast amount of new research. Another merit of the report was to discuss several desirable features of, and possible implications from, EMU. In the end, the One Market, One Money Report comes out in clear favour of proceeding toward complete monetary integration in Europe for several EU members. Emerson et al., argue that the many shortcomings of the old OCA theory are likely to bias downwards the expected net benefits from monetary integration: EMU is likely to be more beneficial than what can be presumed on the basis of the application of the OCA properties alone. For example, although labour mobility is low in Europe, the mobility of capital is instead quite high and rising. This provides an alternative adjustment channel. 5. Empirical Studies of OCA: from the 1980s to today This section reviews several recent empirical studies on the diverse OCA properties. The flourishing of these studies is due to the theoretical innovations discussed in the previous sections, the advancements in econometric techniques, and foremost, the renovated interest toward European economic and monetary integration. These empirical studies seek to assess why specific groups of countries may form an optimum currency area by analysing and comparing a variety of OCA properties and applying several econometric techniques. Thus they aim to operationalize the OCA theory. The focus of this section is on Europe. The main reason for this choice is that the European process of integration started already in the 1950s. ECB Working Paper No 138 April

19 Europe is in some sense, providing a laboratory to assess each OCA property and monitor the effects of deepening economic, financial and monetary integration. 8 9 a. Price and wage flexibility. There is broad agreement that price flexibility is low across European countries. OECD (1999) and EU Commission (1999) find that price flexibility is hampered, albeit by different degrees across the euro area, by the slow implementation of the Single Market Programme (SMP), a slow dismantling of some nontariff internal and external trade barriers, and continuing state aid to several sectors. For example, there is relatively low market competition and monopolistic tendencies in sectors with a high concentration of state owned enterprises or of previous state monopolies. Bayoumi and MacDonald (1998) find no evidence of mean reversion in regional relative prices in Canada and the US over the past 30 years. Instead, OECD (1999) finds that there is no empirical evidence of sustained inflation differentials leading to permanent changes in relative consumer prices between regions in Australia (during ) and Spain (during ). Inflation ranged from a low of 1% to a high of about 3% per year in Australia and almost 4% in Spain. Alberola and Tyrväinen (1998) extend the Belassa- Samuelson model and estimate that, based on historic trends in productivity and wages, sustained inflation differentials of up to 2 percentage points could manifest itself between the more and less advanced euro economies. De Grauwe and Venhaverbeke (1993) find that real exchange rates were significantly less variable within European countries than between them. Low wage flexibility is also an important factor behind the lack of price flexibility. Despite significant progresses in recent years, real wages are still quite rigid across most European countries, albeit with notable differences (see also Calmfors and Driffil (1988), Calmfors (2001) and Boeri, Börsch-Supan and Tabellini (2001)). There is also a significantly slower speed of adjustment of real wages to economic shocks in continental Europe (OECD (1994)). Unemployment does eventually put some downward pressure on real wages in Europe, but a large share of the adjustment is borne by employment (OECD (1994)). But Cadiou, Guichard and Maurel (2001) find significant labour market asymmetries across EU countries and that overall the responsiveness of wages to unemployment rose in the 1990s. Several labour market institutions contribute to explain low wage flexibility including: wage bargaining arrangements, employment protection, unemployment insurance systems, and minimum wage provisions (see Blanchard (1999), Blanchard and Wolfers (2000)), EU Commission (1999), and IMF (1999)). Several studies find a wide heterogeneity of European labour market institutions (Nickell (1997), Layard and Nickell (1998), and OECD (1999)). Several recent studies establish a significant link between product and wage markets: countries with more stringent product market regulations tend to have more restrictive employment protection legislation (OECD (2000)). Therefore, product market reforms can be a catalyst for easing restrictive employment protection legislation. Such structural reforms would enhance competition, strengthening the links between wage and price flexibility allowing prices to adjust more rapidly in the wake of shocks. Hence, the drive to continue implementing the Single Market Programme will enhance both price and wage flexibility. 8 There is also a rich empirical literature examining the suitability of other regions -- such as Latin America, Far East Asia, and some African regions -- to some forms of monetary integration: see diverse contributions by Alesina, Barro, Eichengreen, Bayoumi, Artis, Melitz, and other authors. 9 Alesina, Barro and Tenreyro (2002) as if a country is by definition an optimum currency area. In fact, several OCA properties have also been investigated at the intra-national level, i.e., of regions within sovereign countries: e.g., the US States, German Länders, Spanish provinces, or Italian regions, See for example, Obstfeld and Peri (1998), Boldrin and Canova (2001) and references therein. Such regions lack the nominal devaluation option that is a privilege of sovereign countries. This provides some information on alternative adjustment mechanisms including labour mobility and real exchange rate developments. Such studies analyse also how shocks are distributed inta- and inter-nationally. 18 ECB Working Paper No 138 April 2002

20 b. Labour market integration. Labour mobility could contribute to the adjustment in case of permanent shocks and when real wages are downward rigid. However, several studies have found that this mobility was two to three times higher in the US than in Europe (OECD (1999)). 10 Eichengreen (1990b) found that the variation of unemployment in Europe was twice that of the United States, while its dispersion was four times higher in Europe than in the United States. Thomas (1995) noted significant differences between Europe and the United States in their responses to the unemployment rate to employment shock. In the US unemployment shocks that result from a fall in demand for goods and services produced in a particular region are not persistent due to a high degree of interregional migration of the labour force. In Europe, however, changes in the unemployment rate tend to be persistent due to a low mobility of the labour force across countries. Bentolilla (1997)) found that the probability of moving is not (or only weakly) responsive to relative unemployment. Furthermore, the OECD (1999) noted that cross-country migration is an unlikely response to economic shocks in the euro area, and instead is motivated by other factors and is permanent. The economic incentives to move have weakened even further due to high overall levels of unemployment, income convergence and reduced wage differentials across countries (OECD (1999)). The process of economic catching up with more advanced economies has in fact narrowed the gap between wages and income per capita within the EU thereby reducing the incentives to migrate (Bentolila (1997). Several factors help to explain low labour mobility in most EU countries. Bertola (2000) observes that quantity and price dimensions of labour market rigidity are inter-related and that lack of employment flexibility with wage rigidity reinforce each other. But there are also some specific social, cultural, and administrative determinants behind the low geographic mobility in Europe. Braunerhjelm, Faini, Norman, Ruane, and Seabright (2000), noted inefficiencies in the inter-regional job matching process as well as high mobility costs. Blanchard questions whether the cultural and language barriers can ever disappear. Also, there are significant barriers in the housing markets across the EU. A panel of experts set up by the EU Commission in 1996 partly attributes low labour mobility to a combination of institutional and administrative factors including: limited cross border portability of social protection and supplementary pension rights; administrative difficulties and the high costs of gaining legal resident status; lack of comparability and reciprocal recognition of professional qualifications; and restrictions on public sector employment. Decressin and Fatás (1993) adapt the framework of Blanchard and Katz (1992) to study US States regional labour markets to Europe. They find that only 20% of changes in regional employment are common to all European regions, whereas in the US 60% of these changes are common to all US states. The dispersion of changes in employment is also lower in the US. Differences in relative unemployment rates between regions are more persistent in Europe than in the US, with regional relative unemployment rates returning to their means more rapidly in Europe than in the US. Concerning the absorption of shocks to regional labour demand, the main difference between the US and Europe stems from the different roles played by labour force participation and migration. In the US net immigration accounts for 52% of the increase in regional employment from the first year onwards, whereas in Europe it is only after the third year that immigration accounts for a similar proportion of the rise in employment. The reverse holds for labour force participation that in Europe accounts for 78% of the rise in employment in the first year and 50% in the second, whereas the respective figures for the US are respectively 18% and 17%. Hence, there is greater heterogeneity among European regions than among US states. Viñals and Jimeno (1996) estimate a model of regional unemployment in which unemployment is decomposed into region-specific 10 OECD (1999) reports that only 5.5 million European Union citizens reside in another member state out of 370 million (or about 1.5 percent of the population, and half of the proportion for non-eu citizens). This ratio was actually higher in the 1950s and 60s when 10 million people migrated from Southern to Northern Europe. Hence, in some sense labour mobility has fallen in Europe (Bertola (2000)). ECB Working Paper No 138 April

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